donharmon

It gave me a lump in my throat whenever the theme song came on, announcing another episode in this great series. You may find sound clips of the music theme on line, but I have never found the entire theme song. It is worth hearing. As to the plots of the episodes, well, they were were somewhat repetitive, usually centering around the psychological stress of constant terror in the sky, flying an unpressurized and freezing cold airplane through flak and German fighters to targets in occupied Europe during WW II. The B-17 scenes are great, and in 1964, there were enough of the old war birds left to make the scenes realistic. Also, the technical adviser must have been good, because the airfield scenes, the uniforms and other props appear to be authentic. I just wish that these episodes were available on DVD, but sadly, I don't think it will ever happen. Hell, I would buy the DVD just for the theme song!

As a former Marine, I really liked this film. I read the novel and saw the film as a little boy, and years later, in Vietnam, I reflected on how different war is from war films. I don't have the DVD or VCR tape, but never miss this one on late night TV. It has some corny characters, (the good-hearted whore, the rough lumberjack who turns out to be tender, the grizzled old first sergeant, etc.) but it hangs together. It is plausible and the personal lives of the Marines make it a real drama with some depth beyond rifles and helmets. The scenery is great and the fighting sanitized. A terrific old movie.

I am 59 and was searching my ancient memory for the first few TV shows I saw as a boy. We got our first TV in 1948. "Molly Goldberg," not among my favorites, was incomprehensible to me. The Jewish humor escaped me as a little boy. Still, that show stuck in my memory. For better or worse, I would really like to see some of those old TV shows from the first half of the last century.